Advertising: Glow-in-the-dark Advertising

Vice—the irreverent free glossy with 14 international editions based in New York—has figured out a new way to sneak an advertiser’s product onto its cover: glow-in-the-dark ink. The magazine’s Canadian edition is running an ad for BMW 1 Series—visible only in the dark—on the cover of its latest issue.

Shawn Phelan, director of sales and marketing at Vice's Toronto office, told Strategy, a Canadian marketing magazine that "Maintaining the integrity of our cover—which is not usually for sale—while delivering a unique brand message for BMW was an amazing challenge”. That’s because a glow-in-the-dark ad is a production department nightmare. According to Phelan, the magazine had to print its covers at one plant; ship them to another to add the glow-in-the-dark ink, a UV coat; then back to the original plant for binding.

Read more on Foliomag.com

Advertising: Ads that readers can taste

Another frontier in interactive print advertising— ads that allow readers to taste the product being advertised!
In the latest issue (Feb 18) of PEOPLE magazine, Welch's 100% Grape Juice features full-page print ads that allow readers to sample its grape juice by licking the ad. The front of the advertisement shows a huge bottle of the juice, while the back has a strip that peels up and off, with text: "For a TASTY fact, remove & LICK". Readers are supposed to peel off the entire sticker on the Welch's ad before licking, says First Flavor, the company that developed the technology used in the ad.

The ad has caused many debates about hygiene and the 'ick' factor of licking a magazine page. Some related links:
Lickable magazines may not be sweet success
Welch's salivates over lickable ads

Article: Are more ads going to magazines?

At a time when magazines the worldover are seeing a decline in ad pages, India is experiencing an unprecedented magazine boom. Every month sees at least one new launch and there seems to be no dearth of ad pages in any one of them.
In this article from ‘The Brand Reporter’ industry professionals explain the growth in Magazine advertising in 2007.

Extracts from the article:
Maheshwer Peri, President & Publisher, Outlook:
In this age of fragmentation and enormous wastages, magazines are the only media which would deliver filtered, specific audiences in the most cost-effective way. I see magazines only growing from here on as more specialised products make their entry felt.

Jasmin Sohrabji, Managing Director, OMD India
Increasingly their (newspapers) inclusion in the media mix will reflect their absolute cost of entry in a media plan vis-à-vis their effectiveness. Magazines show a higher ad growth, albeit on a lower base.

Aman Nayar, Brand Manager, Navbharat Times
A large number of launches have happened in the magazine category. That, and not any change in advertiser preferences, has resulted in this temporary spike.

Sidharth Banerji, Managing Director, Kyndal India
Magazines are preferred to newspapers because of many reasons. The primary reason is the pictorial outlook of the magazines compared to newspapers. Reproduction quality of magazines is far superior to that of newspaper.

Read the entire article here.

Future: Moving Pictures in Print

MediaWeek's article 'Time Inc. Eyes New Ad Apps' sites the example of lenticular ad for the Fox TV network (in Rolling Stone magazine oct 4 issue) and NBC’s Bionic Woman ad in Entertainment Weekly where the heroine’s mechanically enhanced winker lights up as the start of a creative and technological revolution in print ads.
(See also the Draft 004 lenticular cover in the accompanying picture)
As marketers look for more ways to capture the attention of media-saturated consumers, publishers are exploring much more intricate ad units, up to and including ads that feature video. A media buyer and another industry source confirmed that Time Inc., a sponsor of the MIT Media Lab, is working on technology and has looked at prototypes that would put moving pictures on a page.

Mike Maguire, CEO of Structural Graphics, a maker of high-impact ads, sees such ads as well-suited for demonstrating a new product or change in logo, believes the concept is one to two years away from execution. Ads showing full-color video may not be far behind, he added. .

Read the entire article here

Advertising: Engage all Five Senses

IPC Media is one of UK's leading consumer magazine publisher, with an unrivalled portfolio of brands, selling over 350 million copies each year.
Combining case studies from their magazines and using theory, IPC has produced the Five Senses Roadshow--the ultimate guide to appealing to consumers' senses.
Here are the highlights of the presentation:

1) Magazines are undoubtedly the medium of engagement. Often regarded as a close friend they offer entertainment, information and advice, just like a close friend should.
2) Advertising benefits from this engaging framework but it is possible to improve your advertising conection even further by producing 'connectable' advertising. Advertising which stirs the five senses, ignites emotions and leaves a lasting impact on readers minds.
3) Active purchase of magazines and mental processing of reading means magazines command fullest attention. eye-tracking technology shows print gains up to 7 times the attention levels of TV.
4) No other medium provides their audience with more targeted advertising than magazines. relevant content in relevant surroundings means the ads become fully ensconced in the magazine experience.

To find many more arguments in favour of print advertising and to get new ideas to engage the five senses, you can download the presentation from ipcadvertising.com.

Advertising: Pepsi Brings Smell, Sound To Print

Here is an example of how magazine publishers, media agencies and advertisers can get together to create memorable print campaigns:

The print advertisement for Pepsi’s latest calorie-free drink called Diet Pepsi Jazz consists of an insert (in October 16 issue of People magazine) that aims to surround readers with the soda's colour, smell and ‘sound’

The front of the ad shows a hand twisting off a bottle top and the word "Introducing."
Open the four-page insert and a Pepsi bottle and music notes jump to life as a sound chip playing jazz music from a TV spot for the soda gets activated.
The back page of the ad has a scratch and sniff strip that produces a whiff of black cherry and French vanilla flavours (two flavours the soda is available in).

Called "The new sound of cola," the campaign was a joint effort between Omnicom's OMD and Pepsi's lead creative shop, sister agency DDB. OMD negotiated the buy with People magazine. To ensure higher visibility, the agency ensured that the ad would run not only in an editorially appropriate issue, but also in an issue without too many other inserts.

Advertising: Absolut-ly Successful Magazine Ads

If you’re a publisher looking for a solid print champion, Absolute Vodka is worth toasting according to "Latest from Min' newsletter. Even as its competitors began to shift to television advertising, Absolut stuck to its print platforms through 25 years before making its television advertising debut earlier this year. Tim Murphy, Absolut’s brand director, says he prefers magazine brands when he needs a direct, effective ad vehicle to reach his target audience, “Once we figure out who are target is—and we know in quite quiet a bit of detail who they are—magazines afford us the opportunity to pinpoint those people and reach out to them.”
Murphy’s Message to Magazine Publishers
“Publish a magazine that’s popular and appealing to the interests of our consumer. We’re not interested in value-added opportunities or inserts unless the magazine is right for our target. The best thing magazine publishers can do is listen to us. There’s a tremendous amount of consolidation in the beverage alcohol industry, so any one supplier might not have a direct match between brand X and magazine Y.”

Example of Absolute’s Personalized Messages aimed at Specific Magazine Audiences:


Absolut Centerfold for Playboy : Absolut created an Absolut Centerfold with a bottle without any text on it but with an accompanying “playmate data sheet” complete with things like “the perfect night: at home with my closest friends, Sven, Björn, Ingmar, while jumping back and forth between the sauna and ice baths….”

Absolut Image and Absolut Exposure for the Annual issue of Canadian Geographic: Absolut Image is an overlapping montage of photos showing parts of some Absolut Vodka bottles. The center “photograph” with the Absolut shape cut-out shows the image of an endangered Rocky Mountain Grey Wolf.

Absolut Fan: This ad is classic magazine ad but almost 2/3 of the ad torn off. It looks like some Absolut fan tried to tear this ad off the magazine.

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“Librarians have to guard their magazines from being de-Absoluted"

Richard W. Lewis, author of Absolut Book: The Absolut Vodka Advertising Story

Advertising: Superhuman Effort to Raise Awareness

Finally magazine faithful have their own Superhero: Captain Read. "Complete with crimson tights, a black cape and a lightning-bolt 'M' for magazines on his chest..."
Beginning the week of July 17, 2006, MPA (Magazine Publishers of America) and the Magazine Marketing Coalition embarked on a two-week guerilla promotion to raise awareness within the ad community of magazines’ strengths and contribution to media plans. The promotion involved a superhero named Captain Read who visited nine advertising agencies in New York City, bearing research materials that tout the super-power of magazines.
Overall, Captain Read met with more than 750 planners, buyers and other agency professionals and disseminated 1,300 copies of each research material, counting leave-behinds.

The entire hoopla with the people posing with Captain Read seems a wee-bit childish, but then a friend with agency experience, tells me that in India too, media planners often have whacko campaigns designed to get their attention.
And I know of a technology magazine launch where a man in a Robot costume served chips and snacks to visitors. Thankfully, it was good eight years ago.

While the MPA site shows happy pictures of people who posed with Captain Read, Simon Dumenco of Advertising Age does not take a kind view of the situtation in his article: You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! (Please Tell Me You Are)

Happy Reading !

Advertising: Philips Takes Single Sponsorship with Gourmet

Philips Electronics Corporation is going the single-sponsorship route in a new project that builds on its advertising theme of "sense and simplicity."
Philips is the only sponsor of a 98-page, booklet-like supplement to be distributed with the August issue of Gourmet magazine, a Conde Nast publication. It will come in a "poly bag," or plastic wrapper, making it what the magazine industry calls an outsert.
The supplement is devoted to articles that are meant to "provoke you into thinking about the act of eating in a richer and more interesting way," Ruth Reichl, editor in chief, writes in a note to readers that opens the supplement.
In April, Philips paid Time Inc. an estimated $5 million to sponsor a novel reordering of the insides of the issues of four magazines: Business 2.0, Fortune, People, and Time (see Media Ideas Archive). The sponsorship brought the TOC in each issue forward to the first pages inside the covers in order to convince consumers that Philips makes it easier for them to enjoy their favorite publication just as the products Philips sells make life easier.

Read more in the article on Nytimes.com:
Exhortation From Gourmet: Eat, Drink and Buy Appliances
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